Misunderstanding
by jaybullette7
Summary: The one time Brittany isn't completely honest, it sort of blows up in her face. Berrittana Week- Day 1- Firsts


In hindsight, Brittany totally understands where her girlfriends' are coming from. Sneaky phone conversations, always running late, rescheduling dates, the edgy behavior. She totally understands how that can be misconstrued as cheating. Even though she understands, it still totally sucks that her girlfriends' are mad at her. She really needed help with her English final though and she didn't want to burden them, especially since their relationship was relatively new.

"How long have they been shutting you out?" Mike asks kindly, sipping at his water as he watches Brittany from across the cafeteria table.

Brittany pouts. "17 hours. 17 whole sucky hours."

Mike smiles sympathetically, offering part of his peanut butter and jelly sandwich as compensation. Hoping the sandwich will partly make up for her girlfriends' absence.

Brittany takes it with a small grin but her grin slowly fades as her face forms a small frown.

"What?" Mike asks when he notices her expression.

"I used to be the bread that kept the peanut butter and jelly together." She says sadly, biting the sandwich much more forcefully than needed as she glares down at it.

Mike's face twists into confusion. "Wait, what?" He's normally good with deciphering Brittany-isms.

Brittany sighs, momentarily annoyed Mike doesn't get it. Santana would have. Rachel would have laughed. She splits the sandwich apart, right hand holding the half with jelly and left hand holding the half with peanut butter.

"Santana is the peanut butter. Totally smooth and stubborn." She explains, lifting her left hand. "But she sticks to the bread. Just like she sticks to me."

Mike nods slowly, face still twisted into a frown, as he concentrates on Brittany intently.

"Rachel is the jelly. Totally sweet and sticky. But she also sticks to the bread, maybe not as firmly as peanut butter since it jiggles when you move it but it totally sticks to the bread." Brittany continues, moving the bread slightly to demonstrate the jelly moving. She slaps the two halfs together with a splat. "The bread keeps them together. I was the bread that kept Rachel Berry and Santana Lopez together."

Mike nods in understanding, grin slowly forming on his face. "That's a really good metaphor, Britt."

Brittany frowns. "Mike I'm using my hands to eat this. I'm not using a metal fork."

Mike laughs good-naturedly. "Right, silly me."

The two share a laugh before lasping into silence.

"Is this your first fight?" Mike asks quietly.

Brittany nods sadly.

"Why don't you just tell them the truth?"

"Because its embarrassing!" Brittany snaps, flinging out a hand.

Mike flinches only slightly but Brittany still notices.

"I'm sorry." She says sheepishly.

He grins in acceptance before his face gets serious again. "But seriously Britt, I think you should just tell them. I mean just look at them, they look miserable, you all do." He offers, nodding over to Rachel, who's picking idly at her salad, not even sparing a glance at the table in discussion. Her heart clenches at the sight. Brittany follows his eyes over to Santana and she actually winces at the glare being sent her way but she can still see the pain and sorrow hidden in those dark eyes.

"I know, I know. I've tried explaining but Santana can get soo loud sometimes, it just kinda drowns everything out." Brittany mutters lowly, diverting her eyes back to Mike's kind ones.

"So start with Rachel, talk to them seperately. Get Rachel to understand and then you both double team Santana." He suggests with a grin, inwardly patting himself on the back for his well-thought plan.

Brittany grins impishly at him. "You said double team Santana." She comments, wiggling her eyebrows.

Mike rolls his eyes in exasperation. "Whatever." He huffs, cheeks tinging a slight pink.

"Thank you Mike." Brittany says seriously. "For the tutoring, for sitting with me right now, for sharing your sandwich, for helping me out. You're my best friend." She says sincerely.

Mike eyes soften and he smiles widely, eyes crinkling at the corners. "Of course Britt, you're my best friend too, ya know."

Brittany grins brightly in response. "Divide and conquer." She says, sticking out a fist.

Mike bumps it with his own. "Divide and conquer."

* * *

Rachel Berry searched frantically through her locker. She couldn't find her text book and she needed it for her next class. She huffed and threw the notebook she just looked behind back inside her locker, frowning when something fell to the floor. She bent over quickly retrieving the item, not wanting to give the passing students a free peep show with her short skirt.

Contrary to popular belief, Rachel Berry wears her sinfully short skirts on purpose, knowing full well the effect it has on two certain Cheerios. Her heart clenches at the thought of her girlfriends' or girlfriend? Was she single now? She didn't know. They were at odds with each other since the night before when her and Santana finally decided on calling Brittany out on her dodgy behavior. Rachel mostly watched, Santana took over the speaking fairly quickly once she gained speed, and at some point she had even started spewing off angry Spanish before she stormed out the door with tear-filled eyes. Brittany hadn't stood a chance in hell interrupting her. Rachel had trailed after her somewhat reluctantly, Santana was her ride there afterall, but Brittany's wide blue eyes, so filled with hurt and confusion... She shivered just thinking about it. Her heart ached but she refused to be played the fool again, so she had left with Santana, cutting contact with Brittany and chosing to be away from the Latina for the night in the hopes of thinking clearly.

Shaking herself from her own thoughts, Rachel looks down at the folded paper in her hand. With gentle fingers she pulls it open. She can't stop the bubble of laughter from errupting from her throat even if she tried. In her hand lays three crudely drawn ducks. Two slightly smaller ducks, one with drawn on devil horns and one with music notes surrounding its head, lay either side of a taller duck that had hearts drawn were the eyes should have been. Rachel smiles sadly at the picture in her hand, laughing softly at the words and random phrases drawn across the top of the page. Brittany had given her that paper after their first week together. She'd kept in her locker ever since.

Rachel sighed sadly and placed the drawing gently back in her locker, smoothing it down against a few books. She shifted her glance and finally spotted the missing book on the top shelf of her locker. Balancing on her tippy toes, Rachel reached her arm as high as it could go to try and grab the book. Her arm didn't quite reach. Huffing in defeat, Rachel lifted off her toes and stood with her feet flat against the floor. She crossed her arms and glared up at the book, cursing her petite stature.

"Here, I'll get it."

Rachel heard behind her, before a long pale arm was reaching over her and grabbing the book off the shelf. She sucked in a breath at the sound of Brittany's voice. She could feel warmth radiating onto her back and she shut her eyes tightly before she turned around.

Clearing her throat, Rachel put on her show smile and lifted her arm out to take the book. "Thank you, Brittany. I'll just take my book and be on my way." She said swiftly, frowning when Brittany pulled the book from her grasp.

"Can you listen to me please?" Brittany asked quietly, sad blue eyes pleading.

Rachel sighed and pulled her arms around herself. She had been hoping to avoid this.

Taking the smaller girls silence as an okay, Brittany began to speak. "I'm not cheating on you and Santana." She said simply, watching as Rachel winced slightly at her words. "I'm serious Rach, I'm not cheating."

Rachel studied her for a second. "So why were you acting so weird? And you didn't exactly defend yourself last night."

Brittany sighed. "When have I ever given you a reason not to trust me?" She murmured under her breath, sounding more like she was thinking aloud then responding to Rachel. "I-I haven't been completely honest with you guys, but I didn't lie either." She said honestly.

Rachel's face twists into a frown at the explanation.

"I-I've been... I'm struggling with the work in my classes." Brittany starts quietly, diverting her eyes to the ground. "I've been getting help by seeing a tutor, that's why I had to cancel a lot and why I didn't seem all there. It was stressing me out." She finishes, toeing the tile beneath her with her Adventure Time themed Vans.

Rachel's eyes soften immediately, her arms falling limply at her side. "Britt..." She breathes, tone laced in apology.

"No, its okay. You guys didn't know and I'm sorry I didn't say anything. It's just embarrassing." Brittany says sadly, not moving her eyes from the floor, as her fingers tap anxiously on the book cover.

Rachel steps forward and closes the space between them as she wraps her small arms around Brittany's waist. "I'm sorry Brittany. I wish you would have just told us, what did you think we were going to do? I'm really, really sorry." Rachel says sincerely.

Brittany lets the book drop from her hand and to the floor with a quiet thud, wrapping her own arms around Rachel's neck.

"I was scared you guys would leave me." She whispers quietly, clutching Rachel tighter at the thought.

Rachel grips her tighter as well, pulling back only enough to look at Brittany's sad eyes. "Hey, look at me." She urges, tugging lightly at the back of Brittany's shirt. She waits patiently for Brittany to meet her eyes. "We are not going anywhere. Okay? We're not going anywhere, Brittany. Everyone has their struggles, that certainly doesn't make me love you any less." Rachel says, watching Brittany's eyes begin to brighten before they widen in shock.

"You love me?" Brittany breathes out, not sure if her ears were playing tricks on her.

Rachel eyes her in confusion, running over her statement in her mind. Her face pales in realization. Her jaw opens and closes as she tries to form words to speak.

Brittany watches her with a small smile, leaning down and pecking her sweetly on the lips. "I love you too, you know." She says bashfully.

Rachel blushes lightly, pushing a strand of hair behind her ear shyly. "That's... That's good. T-This is good." She stammers out.

Brittany grins and leans down to kiss her again, letting their lips glide together before pulling back with a wet pop.

Rachel's eyes flutter open as Brittany pulls away slightly. "What about Santana?" She says, worrying her bottom lip between her teeth.

Brittany smiles hopefully. "I was hoping you'd help me talk to her. She kinda has the tendency to not listen. She's really stubborn." She says, scratching at her cheek. "Plus, you understand Spanish better than I do. I only know the dirty words, and the ones that mean go faster." Brittany says, not the slightest bit embarrassed.

Rachel flushes darkly at the thought, all too familiar with Santana's native language. "Right. That makes sense. We can meet at my house. We can leave together after glee?" She offers.

Brittany shakes her head in the negative. "I won't be in glee today, I have Mathletes practice. But I can still make it there after."

Rachel gins brightly. "Of course, my girlfriend, the next Albert Einstein." She says fondly.

"No, the next Brittany S. Pierce." Brittany scoffs, winking playfully at the tiny brunette. "Will your dads' be there?"

"Nope, they went away on business again. They'll be back tomorrow evening." Rachels shrugs.

Brittany nods, looking up at one of the many numerous clocks displayed around the school. "Come on, let me walk you to class. Your 20 minutes late Ms. Berry." She reprimands playfully, picking up Rachel's forgotten book and steering the tiny diva down the hall.

Rachel shuts her locker quickly, reaching for Brittany's hand and lacing their fingers as they walk. "Well, if I'm not mistaken, you are late as well Ms. Pierce." She adds as they round the corner and head off to Rachel's class.

* * *

"Who pissed in your Cheerios this morning?" Quinn asks conversationally, not looking up from her note taking.

Santana glares at the blonde, sitting back in her seat with a huff. "I don't know what you're talking about." She says, crossing her arms across her chest.

Quinn smirks. "Yeah? You sure? Because your body language seems to say otherwise." She says, craning her neck to peek at the Latina.

Santana glares at her, uncrossing her arms and hunching back over the desk. "Whatever." She mutters, going back to her writing.

Quinn waits patiently. She knows her best friend is about two seconds away from spilling her guts, if the bouncing of her leg is anything to go by.

"Brittany's cheating on us."

_There it is, _Quinn thinks smugly, _wait what?_

"I'm sorry, what?" She asks, just to be sure she's not hearing things.

"I said, Brittany is cheating on us!" Santana snaps, slapping her hand on the desk space between them.

Quinn's eyes widen, not from the sudden movement, but from the thought of Brittany S. Pierce actually being unfaithful. "No way."

Santana nods her head agressively. "Yes she is. And then when we confront her about it she didn't even deny it!" She exasperates, a thin sheen of tears clouding her vision.

Quinn places a reassuring hand on her thigh. "Santana I know you. Have known you for years. So I know how you get once you've convinced yourself of something. I'm willing to bet a limb that Brittany isn't cheating on you. You're just missing the bigger picture." Quinn explains gently, squeezing Santana's thigh reassuringly before removing her hand.

Santana sighs and wipes quickly at her eyes, catching her tears before they can fall. "I don't know, Q. If its like that then why didn't she say anything when we talked to her last night."

Quinn lifts a single eyebrow, shooting Santana a knowing glance. "You say talking like you actually talked. I'm positive there was some yelling involved, maybe even some Spanish rants before either you or Rachel stormed out. So which one of you was it?" She responds with a smirk.

Santana looks down sheepishly, a faint blush tinging her cheeks.

Quinn laughs lightly, already knowing the answer. "Seriously though San, you should at least give her a chance to speak. No yelling this time." She suggests with kind eyes.

Santana sighs and leans her head against Quinn's shoulder. Quinn smiles and wraps an arm around her shoulder.

"Thanks Q." Santana says sincerely.

"Anytime San, anytime." Quinn responds.

* * *

Glee practice went by uneventfully. It turned into a gossip session fairly quickly once they realized they were missing important members. Santana had approached Rachel, only to be brushed off gently, as the girl continued to work on her homework. But Santana being Santana, she was quick to think something was wrong and it took Quinn slapping her swiftly across the face to snap her out of her thoughts. Puck had quickly put himself between them, not wanting to see his best friends fight again. He only backed off when Tina drug Quinn away to talk. He remained with Santana though. The two of them talking about random things until Mr. Shue called practice to an end. Santana waited until Rachel had packed away her bag before aproaching her cautiously.

"Hey." Santana said timidly.

Rachel turned to face her as she hiked her back pack over her shoulder. "Hey."

Santana shuffles on her feet awkwardly. "Are you mad at me?"

Rachel frowns at her. "Why would I be mad at you?"

Santana shrugs. "I don't know. You didn't call me last night and I stopped at your house this morning but nobody was home."

"I'm not mad at you San, I just needed a little time to process things a bit. I walked to school this morning. I was actually hoping you'd give me a ride home." Rachel says, tucking a piece of her hair behind her ear.

Santana grins bashfully. "Yeah, sure, I can totally do that." She says, not making an actual move to leave the room.

"Well we should go now." Rachel prompts, chancing a glance at the clock and calculating how much time she has until Brittany will be at her house.

"We have to wait for Brit-" Santana starts, immediately cutting herself off.

Rachel watches the hurt cloud Santana's face and reaches out to take her hand. "Hey... I think we should talk about that." She says gently, squeezing Santana's hand.

Santana sighs but nods, pulling Rachel forward by her hand and wrapping her arms loosely around the girls neck. "I know, I was thinking the same. Maybe we should have her come over later on. I know she has Mathletes right now." She says into Rachel's neck, relaxing into the smaller girls arms when they reach around her and rest on her lower back.

"I'm glad you think that because I was going to suggest the same." Rachel smile, letting her hands drift beneath the girls top and letting her nails rack against the Latina's skin soothingly.

Santana shivers lightly but nods. "I was kind of an ass yesterday." She admits quietly.

Rachel laughs softly. "Yeah baby, you kind of were but I think it was understandable, you were hurting."

"Still am." Santana adds softly.

Rachel sighs as she feels her heart squeeze painfully. She wants to tell Santana the truth but knows its Brittany's story to tell. "Come on, lets go to my house and we can wait for her there." She says, pulling back and twisting Santana around gently.

"I still don't understand what's going on with her." Santana says as they walk out of the room with their fingers intertwined.

"I know baby, but we'll talk to her okay." Rachel reassures.

"If you say so." Santana mumurs.

* * *

Brittany felt her nerves sky rocket as she shuffled nervously outside of Rachel's door. She smoothed out her t-shirt and patted down her hair. She brought a shaky hand up to the door and rang the doorbell. She tensed slightly as she heard the tell tale sign of the locks twisting open.

Rachel opened the door and quickly ushered Brittany inside. "Hey Hun." She greeted the blonde with a quick kiss.

Brittany looked around the room swiftly. "Is she not here?" She asked, unable to hide her disappointment.

Rachel smiles softly. "No she's upstairs. She's in the shower."

Brittany smirked slightly. "You guys had sex."

Rachel blushed wildly. "We did not!" She stammered.

Brittany smirks fully now. "You did. And that's okay. You just gave me spank bank material."

"Stop hanging out with Puck." Rachel deadpans.

Brittany tosses her head back in a laugh before turning serious. "So how are we going to do this?"

Rachel twists her fingers nervously. "Well we kind of talked about it a little after glee. She wanted to talk to you too so don't be nervous. She actually suggested you come over before I got to tell her that you already were."

Brittany grins hopefully. "Does that mean she'll listen to me now?"

Rachel chuckles. "Yes, Britt."

"Awesome." Brittany breathes, wrapping her arms around Rachel's neck and pulling her into her body.

Rachel sighs in content and wraps her arms around Brittany's waist. "I missed you." She whispers.

Brittany smiles at her lovingly. "I missed you too."

"I want things to go back how they were, this was just a huge misunderstanding."

Brittany nods her agreement. Definitely. We should wait for her in your room." Brittany suggests.

Rachel nods her head and grabs Brittany's hand, leading her up the stairs and to her room. They pass the bathroom next door to her room just as the shower water turns off. Brittany feels her stomach fill with nervous anticipation. Her mind immediately fills with worst case scenarios but a gentle tug at her hand lets her know she has nothing to worry about.

Brittany sits on the edge of the bed and places her hands in her lap. Rachel just smiles at her and moves to her desk to sit in her chair. Santana doesn't take long in the bathroom. She comes into the room and they all tense. Santana because she hadn't expected Brittany to be sitting there, staring at her so intently. Brittany because she didn't know how exactly to interact with the Latina, and Rachel because she didn't want to have to get into the middle of a shouting match.

"Hi." Santana says softly, smiling awkwardly.

Brittany returns the smile. "Hey."

Rachel rolls her eyes to herself, wondering how the pair that ususally communicated full sentences with their eyes and body language became so awkward.

"Come here, I want to talk to you." Brittany says, scooting to the middle of the bed and patting one side.

Santana moves slowly, wringing her hands as she sits next to Brittany with her legs crossed.

"You too Rach." Brittany says, patting the other open spot next to her.

They're all quiet once they settle in. Enjoying the peaceful silence for a few seconds.

Brittany reaches out a hand slowly, cautiously placing it on Santana's. She smiles internally when Santana doesn't pull away. In fact she laces their fingers together. Brittany reaches out her other hand and quickly finds Rachel's, who gives her an encouraging squeeze.

"I want to talk about some things." Brittany says, "I haven't exactly been honest with you guys." She starts, flicking her gaze between both girls. "I know I've been kinda cray cray lately and all over the place, but I'm not cheating." She says empatically, looking Santana dead in the eye and squeezing both girls hands.

Santana just stares at her, face unreadable.

Brittany swallows nervously but continues. "I've been getting tutoring. For English." She says quietly, looking down at their laced fingers.

Santana's eyes widen and she looks quickly to Rachel, who nods her head solemnly.

"You knew?" Santana asks incredulously, looking at Rachel.

"What? No!" Rachel answers quickly, "I wouldn't keep something from you, San, you know that. Mike talked to me 6th period. He told me he was helping Brittany but I already knew because she had told me the period before."

Brittany's eyes narrow, debating whether she should be angry or happy that Mike talked to Rachel.

Santana frowns, wrinkles creasing her forehead. "Why didn't you just tell us, Britt?" She asks, not even bothering to disguise the hurt in her voice.

Brittany winces and diverts her eyes again. "I was embarrassed."

Santana's eyes soften and she shuffles forward, reaching a hand out to grasp Brittany's chin. "You don't have to be embarrassed babe, never with me and Rachel. You know that."

Brittany smiles sheepishly. "Well, I know that now."

Santana chuckles as Rachel stiffles giggles.

"I really am sorry I caused such a big mess." Brittany says somberly.

Santana smiles affectionately, grinning widely when Rachel mirrors her expression. "It's okay, B. Because I love you. The both of you." She says honestly, bringing Rachel's hand to her lips and kissing her palm.

Rachel blushes wildly. "I love you guys too." She grins around her flushed cheeks.

Brittany beams brightly, tackling both girls on to there backs and flopping down between them. She sighs contently when they both curl into her sides. She feels her heart flutter when Santana and Rachel clasp their hands over her stomach.

"I love you guys too. So much."


End file.
